Prior art bait saver hooks, such as the hooks in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,713,908 and 5,009,026, comprise a conventional fishing hook with an attached resilient wire strand known as a basket. The prior art basket includes free ends that are attached to the shank of the hook near the eyelet by either wrapping the wire ends around the shank or by applying a bead of solder. Between the free ends, the strand includes generally parallel shank portions, a bite portion and a u-shaped tip-engaging portion. Such hooks have proven effective in preventing bait from flying off a hook.
Problems with prior art bait saver hooks relate to aligning and securing the bait saving wire to the hook. In prior art hooks, the free ends of the wire are clamped to the shank of the hook. Often, during manufacturing, the free ends are misaligned, which means the entire wire is misaligned. Additionally, with repeated aggressive use, the free ends tend to dislodge from the attachment that secures the wire to the hook, rendering the wire useless. Wrapped wire tends to loosen over time. Solder is fragile and has a tendency to crack and delaminate. Consequently, the free ends and shank often separate from solder.
Various alternative techniques were evaluated to more securely attach the free ends to the shank. These techniques include bonding, brazing and texturing. Bonding involves the application of glue to the shank and free ends. The process is tedious, increases manufacturing times and cost, and rarely provides a strong durable bond. Brazing involves soldering the free ends to the shank using hard solder with a high melting point. However, that process is even more tedious, significantly increases manufacturing times and cost, and often results in delamination or cracking of the brazed solder. Additionally, it was too difficult to ensure proper alignment during the brazing process, because the molten solder concealed the wire ends and facilitated shifting. Texturing involves deforming, e.g. roughening, the ends of the wire to increase the coefficient of friction between the wire ends. However, this process shows little to no improvement over the prior art, and does not address deficiencies with prior art attachments or proper alignment. All of the evaluated techniques were deemed problematic.
The invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.